The Psychological Effects of Change Management

The Psychological Effects of Change Management An organization is a system of interacting subsystems and components set within wider systems and environments which provide inputs to the system and which receive its outputs (Senior, 2002, p.5). That is why each organization affects the system but is being modified by the latter as well. According to Armstrong (2009, p.404), as there is no such thing as ideal organization the change is vital. The author argues that by facing each problem, the organisation should be modified in order to achieve the best fit between the structure and the circumstances (2009, p. 405). On the other hand, an organization has different components such as employees which are the essential assets for a company, highly likely they will be affected from the change management of the organization in different ways. There is no doubt that the most important impact is the psychological one for the employees which is considered as resistance to the new management system. These effects should be managed carefully in order to facilitate the change process. Contrary to those who believe that change can only be successful through coercive measures, this paper argues that change must be implemented through a positive approach which consists of a dialogue process with employees. The communication and the presentation of the change management plan will allow employees to express their thoughts and feelings about it. Because their reaction is taken into account, they will feel part of the change process, and they will be more likely to adapt to a given change. This, at the end, will ease the implementation of change, and will help the company to finalize this process in a more peaceful and successful way. Firstly, the concept of change management concept will be explained briefly. Secondly, the concept of resistance and the psychological effects on the employees such as shock of the new, inconvenience, fear of failure will be discussed, and finally, the mitigation methods which depend on the choice of change management programme will be enum erated such as communication, presentation of the change management plan, and bargaining which will be discussed with their effects. THE CONCEPT OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT The change management is the way of dealing with a possible change process since that every company should be ready for a potential modification in the system in order not to be effected by it in a negative way. The concept is defined by Armstrong such as the process of achieving the smooth implementation of change by planning and introducing it systematically, taking into account the likelihood of it being resisted (2009, p.424). Although the change is the only thing that stays constant in the organization (Armstrong, 2009, p.424), and that is the reason why the change management has a vital place in the organizational life. Change starts with a need of modification in the system and happens during a process. Even though nothing disturbs the organizational life, change will happen in a range of time (Senior, 2002). The reason why the change emerges can be internal or external. The former consists of a revision of the administration, redesign of group jobs, external factors can be ei ther social-cultural or political (Senior, 2002, p.5). There exist three types of change: strategic change which is a long term modification, operational change which is related to a change of a part of an organisation and transformational change which affects dramatically the structure, the process and behaviours of the organization (Armstrong, 2009, p.425). In either way a change management programme is highly required to companies. There is a variety of change programmes, and everyone has its own approach, but five characteristics are common between these according to Binney and Williams : vision, telling people what that vision is, top management determination, planning and programming and adopting the best practice (2005. p.296). The management process aims success by decreasing the resistance against the change. The PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF THE CHANGE MANAGEMENT The change management has psychological effects on employees because of the fact that every modification creates a resistance to the organization. As the former will create a new system for them, it can be said that every change management programme is the change itself. As psychological impacts, shock of the new (Armstrong, 2009, p. 431) can be cited, it means that employees will go through a process that they do not know, and they are afraid of it since it is unknown: the new situation will be distinct from the routine. There is also inconvenience (Armstrong, 2009, p.431) because they may think that their life may be more difficult than the previous one. Moreover, the change causes economic fears and uncertainty of the new situation and the latter symbolises a threat to interpersonal relationships that they build during their former organizational life. The new system will probably bring new rules, and they will need to integrate themselves to the new procedures: as to Steers and Black, they may doubt about their competences and they may have a fear of failure (1994, p. 669). Furthermore, it is also the fact that group norms and role prescriptions can be changed and their status may not be the same as the former. As it has been enumerated before, the employees will face a different aspect of their own organization, their habit and their group norms will change and there will be multiple effects on their psychology. That is the reason why employees will show some kind of a reaction called individual resistance (Steers, Black, 1994, p. 668) to the implication of the change management. The resistance can even cause the failure of the im plementation since employees are the most important assets of the organization. The psychological impact has been covered of five stages by Carnall (1990), which can be helpful to understand the resistances change. These five steps are general ones which employees pass through during the process of change. The first stage is denial (1999, p.211) where the employee does not admit that he needs a change in the organization and tries not to accept any changes with a disbelieve to his employers. Carnall argues that it is a warning period and there will be no decrease of performance. The second stage is the defence(1999, p.212) where the employee gets the new position or the new environment but does not want to do it and find excuses related to the new situation. The third one is discarding (1999, p. 212) when employee starts to let go the past, and starts to getting used to the new procedure. This is where employee accepts that the change was inevitable (1999, p.213). Stage four is adaptation (1999, p. 213) where the integration of the employee is realized and every thing works according to the plan. The last one is the internalization where the new change management plan has been became a normal one (1999, p.214): it is the phase where the normalization of the behaviour occurred. The MITIGATION of THE PSYCOLOGICAL IMPACTS The psychological impact should be mitigated in order to realize the change management aimed. Human element is the prime benchmark at this point, it means that every effort must be made according to the interests of those who have been affected by change (Senior, 2002). Mitigation will help to make the employees accept the change management more easily and adapt them to the new sturucture that they are willing to face. It should be underlined that the mitigation effect depend on the change management nature that has been chosen by the administration. Overcoming the psychological effects can be done in multiple ways, the best is to present the change management programme to the employees and try to get them into the project in order to reach a better level of integration. The communication is essential at this point (Armstrong, 2009), it does not mean that the employee will have influence on the change, but at least they will be able to predict their future, which will bring the decrease of the fear that they feel. It is not necessarily an active participation of employees, but an explanation of the reasons why the company choose to make a modification on the current model of management, and its plan in order not to make frighten employees. Every affects that will be faced depend on the introducing method; it may make people a part of the plan and will push them to collaborate with the company. After communication process, the company should also identify the possible fears and their reasons, and after, the administration should find ways to resolve the problems which may occur during the process (Armstrong, 2009). This kind of an attitude will not only help the integration of the employees to the new system but also will provide more credit to current the administration. On the other hand this communication phase can be done as participation to the decision making. The administration can listen to the employees carefully and take them idea as well for understanding in a better way their point about the change (Beech, Kenna, 2008, p. 95). In that case alienation of employees to the change will be less. The company could choose a step forward of communication: bargaining. In that case the employee is having a role in the process. Thurlys model is a well example, this plan has five steps as directive, bargaining, heart and minds, analytical approach and action based. In this case, the change management is imposed to the employees by the management power at first, but then the process is negotiated between the employee and the employer which will help the administration to understand the possible psychological effects of the change, and modify the plan according to it. A brain storming is being done and the management power will find the best way to adapt the new system. In that model the employee is not only a part of the plan but also is facing the administration which will give the feeling of importance to the employee. Moreover, Beech and Kenna share the same idea, according to them when the administration choose a bargaining method (2008, p.95) the company can attract more people to collaborate in an easy way and employees who had been helped the administration can have a better position in the change management process. Furthermore, training and skill development programmes (Beech, Kenna, 2008) can be used in order to decrease the psychological impacts as fear of failure or inconvenience. On the other hand, the physiological effects can be managed by coercion (direct threat), manipulation, withholding negative data (Beech, Kenna, 2008, p. 95). There is no doubt that the administration will show it force on the employees by these methods but is should be underlined that the fear will be more in long term, and additionally the employees will lose their thrust to the administration. Beer et Al argue that people can adopt to a new organizational system and the change should be done in a sharply way but showing the overcome is always a better way, since the behaviour and conscience are related to each other (Armstrong, 2009, p. 428), and more the employee will see the outcome, the more he will adapt itself to the new situation. CONCLUSION As a conclusion, change for every company is a must since it is interrelated to the system and because of the inputs and outputs, change becomes inevitable. Every organization needs to have a change management plan for being prepared to a new organizational system. There are multiple change management programmes; their common point is their aim which is to decrease the effects of change. Additionally, to every plan there will be a resistance; it is result of fear, prejudice, anxiety and ignorance (Calmon, Paton, 1992, p. 9) the change management plan has psychological impacts on employees such as shock, inconvenience, fear of failure. They live it in five stages as denial, defence, discarding, adaptation, internalization according to Carnall. The psychological effects can be mitigated by communication, participation of the employees to the management plan and bargaining. On the other hand coercion can be a way as well, but the best way is to handle the process by a positive way becau se of the fact that the employee is the most important asset of the company moreover the programme will be more efficient, and easy to adapt.

Susan Sontag :: essays research papers

Susan Sontag, in "Against Interpretation," takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation. Unlike most literary critics, Sontag believes that literary criticism is growing increasingly destructive towards the very works of art that they, supposedly, so greatly "appreciate" and "respect." Her standpoint could not be more accurate. Reading her work generates numerous questions, the most important of which is quite possibly, "How are we to take her final statement, ‘In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art.’" In the light of her previous statements, made throughout the work, one could only see this particular statement as an attempt to reach through the fog that blinds the majority of modern critics. According to Sontag, no work of art, especially literature, can escape the surgical eye of the modern critic; therefore, what is to stop her own work from coming under this blade of critic ism? Sontag’s preparation for this criticism shows in the inclusion of her final statement. She has, in effect, laid a trap for the modern critic (who just happens to be you, me, and practically every other reader) with her final statement as the bait. Once the critic picks apart that last sentence, he will see, with greater clarity, the veracity of her work. Throughout this work, Sontag makes many statements that invite interpretation. Critics may analyze her repeated references to Greek literature or possibly her use of sexual imagery, but none could ignore the simplicity, brevity, and word choice that characterize the concluding sentence. The brevity of the final section is what catches the critical eye and the lurid choice of words is what pulls the critic in. The first question that the interpreter finds him/herself asking is, "Why ‘hermeneutics’ and why ‘erotics’? There must be some significance to these terms." Analysis of these terms reveals the two extremes which Sontag has been comparing throughout her piece; "hermeneutics" being an ideal term to describe the type of over-intellectualization that takes place with modern interpreters, and "erotics" being ideal for describing to just what extreme Sontag thinks art should be experienced. When the critics finally "excavates" this statement and, "...digs ‘behind’ the text, to find a sub-text, which is the true one," he finds, low, and behold, the reinforcement of the very statement that Sontag has been inculcating throughout this piece. It does not take long for the critic to re alize that he/she has been duped.

Amy Tan Fish Cheeks Essay

Amy Tan and Maya Angelou come from extremely different cultures, and trying to feel accepted in American Culture. Both authors discuss a feeling of being an outcast and how their cultural differences set them apart. However, Amy Tan effectively uses narration and description to depict her sense of isolation from the dominant American culture. Angelou’s story is set in the South during the 1930’s when racism was prominent in society and an acceptable practice. Angelou’s writing mostly describes the reaction of the audience as they listen to the boxing match. She does not describe in detail on how this fight affects her or what it means to those around her. Her writing gives the reader a sense of excitement and nervousness, but it does not depict her sense of isolation from the dominant culture. Tan’s story takes place in California during the 1960’s. She feels embarrassed about her Chinese culture when she is faced with having a boy she likes and his family over for Christmas dinner. Tan describes in vivid detail her differences and embarrassment that she feels about being different from the Anglo culture. Tan more effectively describes her own isolation from social norms than Angelou. She describes her feeling and reactions to everything leading up to, during and after the Christmas dinner. Tan’s descriptive detail of her feelings throughout the evening effectively portrays her feelings of isolation and being different from the dominant American culture. The reader feels her humiliation and despair. This is evident when she describes the foods she loves in disgust and how she worries about her family’s manners at the dinner table. Angelou describes the emotions of the people around her and does not focus on her own feelings. Her focus is on the crowd’s emotions during the fight and their celebration following the win. The reader does not feel the same sense of isolation that Tan portrays. Angelo’s story describes the thoughts and feelings of her community during a boxing match. However, she does not focus on her own sense of isolation from the dominant American culture. Tan’s story describes her embarrassment and  fear of humiliation because she is different from her peer. She desperately wants to fit into the dominant American culture and is embarrassed by everything her culture and family represents during the Christmas

Psychological Disorder Analysis Essay example - 1519 Words

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